


Forgotten Joy

by winterune



Series: Daybreakers 2020 [3]
Category: Persona 5
Genre: Fluff, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Fun, Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-15
Updated: 2020-03-15
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:47:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23153494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/winterune/pseuds/winterune
Summary: On one Friday afternoon, Ren decides to visit the batting cage in Yongen-Jaya.
Relationships: Amamiya Ren & Morgana (Persona Series)
Series: Daybreakers 2020 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1661095
Comments: 6
Kudos: 35





	Forgotten Joy

**Author's Note:**

> An entry for the Daybreakers Month fandom event.  
> Week 2 prompt: School Life - Characters: Ren Amamiya/Protagonist
> 
> I meant to write fluff, but it ended up becoming angsty near the end. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy :)

He had always been interested in baseball. Not that he had ever played the game. With how Ren grew up in an environment filled with his father’s favorite phrase _it_ _’s a waste of time_ (really, though, it seemed everything was a waste of time to his father except school, cram school, and studying), Ren never had a chance to play or do much of anything that kids his age would have normally done. So, when he saw the batting cage in the backstreet of Yongen-Jaya, the thought had immediately entered his mind: _I_ _’m going to play this game even if it’s the last thing I do_. However, with the whole Kamoshida thing happening in the past couple of weeks, Ren’s life had been in such a frenzy that he had simply forgotten the place existed.

That was, until one Friday afternoon when he had just gotten back from school and was heading to the supermarket that Morgana suddenly spoke from inside his bag.

“What’s this?”

Ren stopped mid-step and looked to his right. A narrow set of stairs tucked between buildings stood there, leading up to who-knew-where. There was a yellow sign at the top of it that said, ‘YONGEN-JAYA BATTING CAGE’.

“A batting cage,” Ren said, mostly to himself, and he caught himself. Hadn’t he wanted to visit this place for some time now?

“A batting cage?” Morgana echoed. The cat had pushed his way out of Ren’s bag and popped his head over his shoulder, placing his paws there as though Ren’s shoulder was a steppingstone. The sudden shift in weight made his shoulder sag. He seriously wondered sometimes why the cat wouldn’t walk on his own. His left shoulder was getting stiffer by the day.

“A batting cage in a small place like this?”

Ren shrugged. He did wonder where the cage exactly was, because there was the supermarket on one side and…Ren didn’t know what the other building was—it always had its shutters down every time Ren walked past it.

“What’s it like inside?” Morgana mused.

Ren glanced at the cat. “Do you wanna check it out?”

“Sure.”

* * *

The batting cage was nestled at the rooftop in-between buildings. Up the set of rickety stairs to another flight of stairs before Ren reached the topmost landing where he was met by another sign on a white board. A doorway to his right opened up to a narrow hallway, with a receptionist counter on one side and the netted batting areas on the other.

“So it’s on the rooftop,” Morgana said as Ren ducked underneath the doorway.

It wasn’t big, and it wasn’t crowded. In fact, they were practically the only ones there. However, despite its size, the place didn’t feel cluttered at all. “Nice,” Ren murmured under his breath. There were a few tables and chairs for people—if there were any—to sit and wait. Its roof only covered the receptionist area and half of the batting cages. Ren liked how the people had used a spare space to make a little bit of money and give some sort of downtime activity for anyone in the neighborhood without having to travel very far. He already liked this place very much and could see himself just sitting there, reading a book.

“Can I help you?” The voice from the counter interrupted his reverie and Ren found a middle-aged man standing behind it. He wasn’t as tall as him, and a little stout around the edges. He was probably around Sojiro’s age—probably younger. He wore a bluish-green shirt and a matching cap that Ren had initially thought might be a uniform, but he couldn’t find any sort of logo or even the words _Batting Cage_ on it.

However, before Ren could say anything, the man had tilted his head to the side and said, “Haven’t seen you around here before.”

“Oh—um, yes, I just moved here last month,” Ren said.

“Ah!” the man exclaimed, eyes widening at the realization. “The one staying at Sakura-san’s place?” Ren nodded. He didn’t know how much he could tell him, as Sojiro had explicitly said not to talk much with the people around here. “Yes, yes, I’ve heard about you. You go to Shujin Academy, right? I heard you’re helping Sakura-san with his cafe?”

Right, that was what Sojiro was telling people: that Ren was working part-time there. Then, not exactly sure what he should do, Ren bowed and introduced himself formally, to which the man smiled and nodded and replied with, “I’m the owner of this batting cage. Feel free if you want to play some game. It’s your first time here, right?”

“Yes.”

“Well, we only have one type of machine at the moment, but I do plan on adding some later on. They’re five hundred yen a game,” the man went on. “Also, to get that youth blood pumping inside you, we give out prizes if you manage to hit all of them. There might even be some little extra if you hit a homerun.”

“Prizes?” came Morgana’s muffled voice from inside Ren’s bag—the cat had shuffled back inside when Ren started talking with the owner. “Do it, Ren! They might be useful.”

“Shut up, Mona,” Ren muttered from the corner of his mouth, giving his bag a quick squeeze.

“Hm? What’s that?”

“Oh, um, nothing,” Ren quickly answered. “Anyway, yeah, I guess I’ll play.”

* * *

Ren entered one of the cages and set his bag down on the ground—the batting cage token on one hand and the baseball bat on the other. His fingers flexed around the hilt.

“Have you ever played baseball?” Morgana asked.

His only experience in baseball was in some of the PE classes he had had back in middle school or watching his school team practice from his window in the classroom.

“A bit, I guess,” Ren said, inserting the token to the machine. “If you count PE classes.”

“What about with your friends?” Morgana asked again. “You know, like local neighborhood matches?”

Ren chuckled. “How do you know kids often have neighborhood matches?”

If cats could scoff, Ren swore Morgana had done just that. “I _told_ you. I was a human. Don’t underestimate my knowledge of a normal human life.”

_Normal, huh,_ Ren thought. If playing catch or having friendly neighborhood skirmishes counted as normal, then Ren felt he wasn’t much of a normal kid. But still, he laughed as he positioned himself on the base and gripped the hilt of his baseball bat tightly.

He heard the pitcher machine started, the cogs and wheels moving, then—

His body moved, swinging the bat wide.

The ball hit the net behind him.

“That was close,” Morgana said.

That had been far from close. Ren frowned, rolling his stiff shoulders and neck. He had run around a Palace and fought Shadows. His body had felt so light and nimble and fast. Could he really not hit one measly ball?

The pitcher machine moved again.

Ren swung his bat too fast.

He sighed. “Want me to change with you?” Morgana said.

“You can’t even hold the bat,” Ren retorted.

“And you can’t even hit it.”

Ren glanced at the cat, who seemed to be smirking. He couldn’t help but feel his own lips stretching into a grin.

_Third time_ _’s the charm_ , he told himself. He tried to remember what it had been like to hit the ball—the stance he had to have, how tight or how loose he had to hold the bat, how flexible his body had to be. _Watch the ball._ He remembered someone telling him once. _Watch the ball and predict its trajectory_. Not that he understood much about baseball to be able to do that.

The machine should only throw fastballs, so…

The machine moved, and Ren swung his bat. It grazed the underside of the ball, though not enough of an impact to send it flying to the other side.

“ _Aaah so close!_ ” Morgana commented.

It had been so long. Was it three years—four—since the last time he last played the sport? He hadn’t played it enough for his body to remember any sort of kinesthetic memory. But he had managed to touch the ball, so that was something. Now, if he could just do that again but better.

The machine shot the ball toward him and—

Ren swung hard and fast, timing it carefully. The bat made contact, and the ball flew to the other side, hitting the net.

“You hit it!” Morgana cheered.

Ren watched the ball fall to the ground on the other side. He remembered it, the feeling of his bat making full contact with the ball—the resistance and vibration that followed—and then seeing the ball flying to the other side. A sort of jubilation he rarely felt filled his whole being and before he knew it, his lips had already stretched into a wide grin.

“All right! There’s more of that where it’s coming from!”

* * *

He didn’t get the prize. Well, of course he didn’t, not after those first three failed hits. “We’ll get it next time,” Morgana had said. Before Ren left, the batting cage owner told him that they were going to have new machines installed over the summer, offering more challenging faster pitches. Though he had yet to master this beginner stage, as he liked to call it, Ren still promised the man he would come by once in a while.

Ren was quiet on their way down from the batting cage. The sun had set, plunging the sky into a deep indigo hue with streaks of dark red and orange by the horizon. There were no clouds to be seen, but unlike his hometown where Ren could often see the stars and make out constellations in the night, the Tokyo night lights often obscured those same stars from view.

He heard Morgana’s voice in the background. The cat was talking about how the batting cage could improve Ren’s handy works, which might help in future Palace infiltrations. Then he started wondering what kind of prizes they would get. Then Morgana told Ren not to forget to stop by the batting cage so Ren could improve his batting skills.

“Hey, I’m not trying to become a Koshien player, you know,” Ren interjected with a laugh.

“I know, but I think this skill would come in real handy to have,” the cat said. “A good coordination between your eyes, your hands, and your mind? That’s a skill any Phantom Thief should have.”

Ren gave a small chuckle, keeping his eyes to the ground. “Yeah, okay, I’ll see what I can do.”

There was a pause, before Morgana popped out of Ren’s bag and he felt the cat climbing onto his shoulder. “Hm? What’s wrong? I thought you were having fun there.”

Ren glanced at the cat, not sure what he was getting on. “What do you mean? I _am_ having fun.”

“You don’t sound as enthusiastic as before though.”

_Enthusiastic?_

Ren stopped in his tracks. What did he mean by ‘enthusiastic’? Ren _was_ enthusiastic, wasn’t he? He _was_ , but…

After leaving the batting cage behind and feeling the cool evening air brush against his face, that rush of adrenaline he had felt hitting one ball after another had subsided, leaving him feeling somewhat empty. The elation from before felt like a distant dream, a brief reprieve before he was thrust back into reality.

This feeling had felt like an everyday thing that Ren had never noticed it. Like a protection gear he had put around himself to brave whatever reality had to offer. As though a part of his mind had settled on the fact that something would take away his happiness and joy and he had to be ready for whenever it struck.

The image of a broken bat came to mind. His father’s cold eyes. The screaming he had heard behind closed doors. Ren had retreated to the park, as he always would every time his parents fought. He didn’t remember if he had cried—it hadn’t seemed like something worth crying for—but he remembered now the pain he had felt when he heard the crack and saw the splintered wood.

Ren had completely forgotten about it—the first and last time his father ever broke something of his. His mother had given it to him, after seeing him enjoying the sport in a local event. A glove and a bat—ones he could play with the kids in the neighborhood.

“Ren.”

A soft furry touch to his cheek, and he realized his eyes were wet.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured, quietly taking his glasses off and wiping his eyes. “Dust must’ve caught in them.”

“Hey, if it’s hard to talk about—”

But Ren shook his head before Morgana could finish his sentence. He realized he had never told anyone about it—about his parents—not even when he still lived with them, because people knew them, and they would expect Ren to be the proper young man worthy of them. Now he was here, living by himself, _gotten rid of_ if he were to use Sojiro’s words. Would it be all right if he talked about them now?

Ren blew a quiet breath from his mouth, putting his glasses back on, then leaned against the railing of the stairs. The streaks of light in the sky were fading away, the streetlamps flickering to life.

“You asked me if I’d played with some of the neighborhood kids, right?” Ren said. Morgana nodded. “Well, I did, for a time. But then my dad found out, and…I stopped.”

It took him a moment to realize that Morgana probably couldn’t understand a single thing from a short explanation like that. As expected, Morgana then asked, “What happened with your dad?”

Ren chuckled under his breath and gave the cat a bitter smile. “Let’s just say, he’s not the best dad around.” And in the quiet of the night, Ren began telling Morgana about his parents.

**~ END ~**

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed it :D Please leave kudos/comments if you find this to your liking. I'd love to know what you think :) Thanks!


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